The death of famed qawwal, Amjad Sabri, shocked Pakistan and the world as millions from the around the globe expressed their grief over losing this icon, who moved so many hearts with his rendition of mystic kalams. Loved by many, Sabri was held to be a person without enemies as he spent his life in the service of Islam. It is deplorable that those who portray themselves as fighting in the way of Islam kill people like Sabri, who did nothing but express his love for the religion. This is perfectly summed up by the Indian journalist, Shekhar Gupta, in his tweet in which he wrote: “Listen to #AmjadSabri shot by terrorists in Karachi today. If he wasn’t Allah Ka Banda show me another youtu.be/iNvUCTRDTcU via @YouTube.” The outpouring of grief from India was tremendous, and that is testament to the soul stirring work of Sabri, which made borders irrelevant and earned the love of many. Michael Kugelman, a renowned American analyst on Pakistan, also expressed sorrow in his tweet: “Just heard about the deadly attack on #AmjadSabri. What a horrible loss for #Pakistan. A special voice has been silenced forever. Sad. RIP.” While the nation and the world mourns over this irreparable loss, Pakistan should engage in introspection over the hate and violence that has consumed it, and that continues to manifest itself in such brazen and horrendous cases of killings. It goes without saying that those who commit such killings in the name of Islam have missed the point of the religion altogether. Even if a supposed stalwart of Islam believes that someone is committing a sin, there is no room in Islam for that person to take the law into their own hands. But this is all irrelevant to terrorist organisations as they use the façade of religion to spread hate and perpetrate violence. The responsibility of Sabri’s murder has been accepted by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), like so many times before, as it brazenly continues to target schools, public places, and artists. While organisations like the TTP continue to threaten the soul of the nation, it is time to deprive it of the environment of hate and bigotry that it thrives on. Pakistan suffers from alarming levels of intolerance, which is firmly situated in, among other things, issues of sectarianism. As exclusionary interpretations of scripture and religious tradition are created, hate towards who subscribe to a different religious denomination from one’s own is perpetuated. In the presence of such bigotry and refusal to accept difference, it would be unreasonable to shift the blame of violence manifesting from it to the failure of law enforcing agencies. It is this mindset that needs to be challenged. And as it drowns out the saner voices in society while even threatening those who challenge it, it is pertinent that the debate be carried forward. It is the battle of ideas that must be won in order to effectively defeat extremism and terrorism, and make Pakistan the pluralistic society that it is meant to be.*